RIOT
by YourNewFriend
Summary: Sasuke and Ino are in the same boat by default. Ino is one of the last people to join the Resistance against the new, bloody Hokage that led them into another war, fresh off the last one only because she can't take anymore death. Sasuke isn't to be trusted yet and has to work from the bottom. It only makes sense they would work together. They just didn't know how well.


**RIOT**

**I**

She drew in a deep breath, opening her eyes, revealing the dark rage that bled into determination. "I'm ready."

It had been different when Sakura and Tenten had joined the resistance. Sakura could stand toe to toe with any man if it came to fists and Tenten could utilize even a fallen tree as a lethal weapon. However, Shikamaru's blood ran cold when he saw the unmistakable vanilla-blonde hair in the exhausting, vertical line of potential recruits. It had made him drink down his fresh tea piping hot, nearly forcing him to break the collected demeanor he had worn previously.

Fury engulfed him, there was no way he was allowing her to join. He couldn't even fathom what came over her now to try out during the worst weeks of Akira's reign they've seen since his initiation last year.

"No, you're not," he growled with teeth gritted so harshly, he felt they would break under the pressure. He didn't care.

Ino took a swift glance around, to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their already heated conversation. "Shikamaru, I have to-"

"No you don't. You don't owe Konohagukure anything. You don't owe these people anything. Go home, I'll speak with you then."

"At least let me-"

"_I will speak to you at home_," he said more forcefully.

Ino crushed the seven month old recruitment letter in her fist, and tried to save face by quickly ducking out of the overcrowded, single-file line. Half way out of the herds of people, she stopped, crushed between a large man and a older, round woman. She swallowed hard and turned back on her heel. Before logic could slow her down, she stormed over like a woman twice scorned. "I reserve every right to insure Konoha is safe for all the children I take care of."

Shikamaru ignored her and spoke directly to the near-elderly man before him, "Come back Tuesday for your physical, sir. Konohagakure appreciates your valiance."

Ino threw her fists against the table, not caring who in the hell saw. "I mean it Shikamaru. Do you have any idea what I go through? Can you even begin to imagine seeing a child who was perfectly healthy the day before return with a missing limb, or not at all?" though speaking of such tragedies usually terrified her to tears, she held her ground firmly and didn't dare shed one tear.

"Next."

"You're being unfair!" Ino exclaimed, outraged by him.

The man who came up next looked to be in his mid-teens.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but before he could question his age, the boy interjected, "I just turned eighteen," with such confidence that it almost distracted Ino. He handed over the papers to prove it and Shikamaru glanced over it.

"Though this is clearly forged, come back Tuesday for your physical."

"Fine, if you won't allow me to, then I'll find someone who will!" Ino began, shoving her fists onto her hips.

Shikamaru stood up so quickly, the chair scraping the ground nearly fell over. He grabbed her wrist firmly and walked her away from the others waiting in line.

"Don't you dare say a word to me. I will not repeat myself. You are to go home and stay there. I'm going to deploy a soldier to stand by the door, and he will report to me immediately if you left. Second, you will not bring this up at home, because what I am saying is final. Third, if you so much as join, I will personally make it a living hell for you, until you can't stand it anymore. You are servicing Konoha enough by being a school teacher. Don't you ever feel like it's not enough, because those children need you," his eyes went from mercilessly hard to softening at his last sentence. He put his hands on Ino's shoulder, bringing her in close, "You're an amazing person, Ino. You've done more than enough."

Ino opened her mouth to say something, but Shikamaru kissed her. "Go home, please."

He left her standing there, before resuming his spot at the recruitment desk. Ino stared at him, hoping he'd at least turn around to look at her. Instead, he called up the next person.

She whispered, tearfully, "I'm so sorry," before staring at the engagement ring on her ring finger. She took a big breath and with a sharp exhale, removed it.

"Wow," someone whistled behind her, making Ino nearly jump out of her skin, "today is just full of surprises. What are you doing here Yamanaka? Or should I be calling you Nara-san, now?"

"You know, Ino would do just fine," Ino relaxed, turning to talk to her old friend, "Forehead Girl."

"Thanks for not answering my question," Sakura laughed, "But I guess it's self explanatory, since I see Shikamaru's helping out at recruitment today," she nodded towards the spiky haired man.

"No, um," Ino felt a shocking wave of nerves seize her, "actually...I came here to be recruited."

"Oh?" Sakura's eyebrow arched, she seemed genuinely interested, "Then today really is full of surprises. Sasuke was just by here looking to do the same thing. Can you believe it? The jerk probably just wants the seat of Hokage for himself. I'm surprised Naruto gave him the time of day."

"Really? Well, Naruto's a kind person," Ino wanted to get off the subject of her being there, since she hadn't even attempted in the eleven month process of the Resistance, until that day.

"Yeah, I guess. Naive is a much more precise word, though. He's letting him speak with Neji tomorrow."

"Do you think Neji will let him in?" Ino questioned, already thinking of seeing the noble, long-haired man herself.

Sakura shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe. We need more people anyway," she gently touched the side of Ino's arm, smiling softly, "besides, it would be great to have a medic and mind-reader on our team."

Ino nodded and moved so Sakura could continue on her way to switch out shifts with Kiba.

Her words reverberated again in Ino's mind on her walk home and again as she was making dinner for two: "_besides, it would be great to have a medic and mind-reader on our team._" Ino found the courage to agree with that idea again, "It would, wouldn't it?" she wondered out loud.

"What would?" Shikamaru asked, kicking off his shoes and peeling a sweaty, black shirt off his back. He came over and attempted to give Ino a kiss on her cheek. Ino, thinking she could muster up the words to tell him she couldn't marry him, stepped back.

"What?"

Ino swallowed. "You're sweaty."

"Oh,"he went over to the hamper in the tiny apartment and threw his shirt inside, "What were you mumbling about earlier?"

"Nothing, just something Sakura mentioned to me today."

Shikamaru immediately frowned. Sakura was a notorious feminist that redefined the word, her entire mantra was if a man could do it, a woman could do it better. Previously he had thought all feminists wanted was gender equality, now he had the feeling Sakura was more into the gender superiority side. Who knows what she could've shoved into Ino's mind? She was probably the reason why Ino had attempted to join in the first place. He unbuckled his belt and stripped out of his pants, "What'd she say?"

Ino looked away. "Um, just normal bicker-inducing things like she hasn't seen me in so long, and what was up with that, that sort of thing."

"Hmm...well, what did you say?"

"Why are you so interested in girl talk, all of a sudden?" Ino had meant for that to come out in a sultry, smooth way, but it actually came out nervous and almost defensive sounding.

"You usually gush about girl talk, might as well get it over with."

"Well, I guess I can hardly call it girl talk with Sakura. All she's dry to the bone. The real juicy stuff is with the girls at the shop."

"Those teens? What could be juicy about their talk? _Oh, I hooked up with this one guy and he said I was pretty! Tee-hee really?_" Shikamaru joked in a high-pitch attempt at what he thought was girl talk.

Ino frowned, wishing he would put on pants already. "I don't appreciate you mocking them. I have more engaging conversations with them than we do."

Shikamru didn't take much offense to that. Instead, he said, "You're still mad about this morning, aren't you?"

"You told me-no excuse me-you _ordered_ me not to talk about it. It was number three, I believe."_  
_

"Actually," Shikamaru corrected, "It was number-two..." he said to the slamming of their bedroom door. He couldn't risk feeling bad about Ino being upset. She would get over it in due time. It was for her own good to stay out of this messy stuff.

He was a scarred man who would stop at nothing to protect her. She would see that soon enough. She had to, didn't she?

The door suddenly bursted open. Shikamaru readied himself, just in case a intruder had been lurking in their home and now chose the time to strike. Rather than that, which he later came to hope it had been that, Ino furiously stormed up to him, arms crossed, and eyebrows brought down with anger.

"What happened to helping me out with the shop today?!" she asked, wondering how that hadn't been the very first thing she had been upset with the moment he arrived home.

Shikamaru nervously grasped the back of his head, "Was that today you needed help?"

"Today?" she yelled, "How about every day? People are dying all the time Shika! Flowers are always in demand for the sick, dead, and if you can still believe it, people are falling in love! Some of the symptoms happen to be giving flowers. You said you'd take time off to help me out during rush hour, but you never showed. The girls are getting overwhelmed and since we're the only shop that sells flowers for miles, it would be nice of you to keep your word every now and then about it."_  
_

"You're acting like I've never stepped in to help you."

"Not without being asked you haven't!" Ino replied incredulously.

Shikamaru took in a breath, "Look, I'm sorry, but I can't all this week. I have recruitment work, I could help you with the money to hire more people, but other than that I can't-"

For the second time, he had the door slammed on him mid-sentence.

* * *

**THE RESISTANCE BUILDING**

**2:58 AM**

"Uchiha, Sasuke?" the bored medical examiner yawned. "Uchiha, Sasuke."

It was nearly three in the morning. The place had been deserted by now and no one else could have been Sasuke Uchiha since the only two people in the room, presumably the entire building, was Sasuke and the ironically sick examiner who coughed by the minute.

Sasuke stood up and walked over to the older man, fighting to not be tired. He didn't want to give him a reason not to pass him. "Uchiha Sasuke is present."

"Okay, remove all clothing."

Sasuke complied wordlessly, allowing the freezing air to swallow up his skin. He hardened his muscular body, flexing his six pack with ease. The man had him rotate three times to get a good look, before he could sit in the covered chair next to him.

"Alright," he coughed, checking something off a list, "Give me your arm."

Sasuke complied again and rested his arm on the table. The man withdrew a long, sharp needle before plunging it into the vein on his forearm and drawing blood inside the vessel. "Alright, I'm going to need you to stand up again and do a few exercises. Push ups, sit ups, pull ups to see if you are dizzy with blood loss. The blood itself will be tested for any abnormalities and since you don't have any clear present bodily afflictions, I just need these exercises completed and the blood tested for you to come back on early Monday morning for the recruiting process to begin at 4 AM sharp. Any lateness will not be tolerated and will result in the immediate removal of your application. Yada, yada, yada...oh! And make sure you bring your own medical supplies and water, things like that. Okay, put on your clothes."

Sasuke put back on his outfit and rolled up his long sleeves before getting down to do the push ups.

"There's no need for all that. Your body is the result of heavy physical activity, if you had any issues, you wouldn't have come, I'm assuming? I'll pass you and see how you hold up during your potential recruitment."

"Alright, thank you," Sasuke said, as he had rehearsed. If the man had any malicious intent not to pass him, Sasuke also had lines for that possibility. If that failed, other methods of persuasion was fine by him.

Now all that was left to do was to find a way to eat and say functioning before Monday. That meant finding a job and since Konoha had confiscated all valuable remnants and seized the monetary finances of the Uchiha Estate and any worth to their name, that left Sasuke to survive on his own. He went home fiercely hungry, determined he would find a job that day, before he became too weak from starvation to be recruited.

In the day time the sun covered up the blaring lights Konoha used for its shops, but then the sunlight also shamelessly revealed the disrepair of nearly all shops and each dirt-infested sign weathered down through the years-except for the one threatening to blind him as he turned the corner.

In bright, almost girly lights a watering pot leaned over to water a growing flower: _Yamanaka Bouquet and Flower Shop!_ radiated onto his face and flooded the entire street with light. He covered his eyes to keep them from exploding on such a dark morning, but instead found himself reading a piece of paper plastered onto the store front: **HELP WANTED.**

"I'll see you, Ino, at...eight o'clock," he smiled, almost disbelieving his luck, reading the opening times.

* * *

**A/N: There you have it folks! Sorry I had to Sasuke's part up a little bit, but my bus stop is almost right now. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! If you have a particularly awesome review, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you! That is...if anyone even likes it. If you do, then I like you!**

**Sincerely,**

**YourNewFriend :)**


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